Devices, such as internal combustion engines, interconnecting transmissions, and gear boxes have rapidly moving parts that can cause degradation of internal parts over time due to friction. To reduce friction, oil is pumped throughout areas of these devices where there are moving parts. However, since friction still exists, wear of internal parts is inevitable and particles from worn parts will disperse in the device's lubricating oil. These particles can scratch surfaces and as they build up, increase the rate at which internal parts wear. This in turn increases the concentration of particles in a device's lubricating oil, creating a vicious cycle. Thus, the rate of wear increases with use.
This problem is mostly seen in internal combustion engines. To help reduce this problem, internal combustion engines often have an attached oil filter to remove particles from the engine's lubricating oil. However, there can be some problems with oil filters commonly used today. First, oil filters cannot filter all particles from an engine's oil. While the best filters may stop some particles as small as seven microns across, no filter is one hundred percent effective and all filters may allow some quantity of particles as big as 30 microns to pass through. Second, as an oil filter is used, contaminants in an engine's oil will tend to clog it up. This increases the pressure needed to maintain adequate oil flow through the filter. Oil filters have a relief valve that opens up if oil pressure gets too high. When this happens oil filtering is effectively bypassed allowing all contaminants in an engine's oil to wear down engine parts. These are reasons why periodic oil changes are important, and serious problems may arise when people forget or ignore the need to change their engine's oil and filter.
Transmissions may or may not have oil filtering, and gear boxes typically do not have any filtering, leaving all particles dispersed in the lubricating oil to increase wear on the internal parts of these devices.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved means of removing particles from lubricating fluid.